Anarchic Actions In Demonstrations Are A Form Of Resilience In Democracy

JAKARTA The wave of demonstrations that have occurred over the past week has been marked by looting in several houses of members of the DPR and ministers. This action was called by political observers as a setback for democracy.

News about the destruction of several houses belonging to state officials from Saturday (30/8/2028) afternoon to Sunday (31/8/2028) in the early hours of the morning. The video circulating shows the masses visiting the house of DPR members from the Sahroni National Democratic Party (Nasdem) faction in the Tanjung Priok area, Jakarta.

They then carried out the damage, and brought a number of items belonging to Sahroni, including breaking down his safe. After that, the houses of two other members of the DPR, Eko Hendro Purnomo alias Eko Patrio and Surya Utama alias Uya Kuya, were also attacked by the masses.

According to the Antara news agency, a number of household furniture, clothing, and electronic items were scattered on the floor of Eko Patrio's house. A number of people were seen carrying chairs, lights, suitcases, from a house called Eko's.

Meanwhile, Uya Kuya admitted that she was sincere that her house in the Duren Sawit area, East Jakarta, was looted by the masses. He only regretted that his pet cat was also looted. Shortly after, on Sunday (31/8), news broke that the house of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani in the Bintaro area was also visited by the crowd.

The houses of the three members of the DPR were targeted by the public because of their controversial statements some time ago. Sahroni said that those who issued the idea of disbanding the DPR were the most stupid people in the world, while Uya Kuya and Eko Patrio seemed to be dancing at the MPR/DPR Annual Session in the middle of this month. The attitude of the three is considered insensitive to the situation of the Indonesian people who are experiencing economic difficulties.

Riots expanded significantly throughout Indonesia following protests sparked by online motorcycle taxi drivers Affan Kurniawan because they were run over by tactical police vehicles. The demonstrators burned the DPRD Building in West Nusa Tenggara, Pekalongan, and Cirebon. Protests also occurred in Bali, Surabaya, Mataram, Semarang, Cirebon, and Yogyakarta.

In Makassar, a DPRD building was reported, which resulted in three fatalities and several people being injured. Several victims were reportedly trapped in the burning building.

After the situation escalated, the Secretary General of the Nasdem Party DPP Hermawi Taslim announced that Sahroni and Nafa Urbach were disabled as members of the DPR from the Nasdem Party faction starting September 1, 2025.

The National Mandate Party (PAN) also deactivated two of their cadres, Eko Patrio and Uya Kuya.

Executive Director of Indonesian Political Opinion (IPO), Dedi Kurnia Syah said the looting that took place at the house of members of the DPR was a form of tolerance for citizens to poor political elite performance.

"The imprisonment carried out is indeed a violation, it is a criminal act that is not justified, but not purely a crime, it is a side effect of the social movement that is currently operating," said Dedi to VOI.

"The National Police cannot use a repressive response, repressive actions on the pretext that looting violates the law will actually trigger a citizen's retaliation, because the reputation of the Police is so bad in the eyes of the public, they need to understand the situation by giving in but keeping a guard," he added.

For this reason, he encouraged the government to meet public demands to reduce the situation, by carrying out reforms within the National Police as the first step.

"The small step that can be taken immediately is by reshuffling the elite Polri, the National Police Chief will be replaced immediately, this will slightly relieve anger because it is considered by the government to have responded," said Dedi.

"In further situations, the government can evaluate the performance and authority of the National Police, it is better if the Police are returned to the domestic ministry, so that control of police power can be more controlled," he added.

Despite understanding public anger, political observer at the Citra Institute, Efriza assessed that the actions of the community to carry out looting were too far away. Democracy, according to Efriza, is to provide space for expression of opinion, attitude, but not for anarchy. He emphasized that democracy actually prioritizes the attitude of respecting others.

"Although Ahmad Sahroni has sparked public outrage, the act of looting of his home life is unacceptable behavior," said Efriza.

"If officials are guilty in their remarks, for example, the mechanism that should be taken is a political route in the form of ethics in the DPR or political parties, it is not an act of taking justice on their own," he added.

Sahroni's words deserve criticism, but looting in his house cannot be justified, because it only worsens the quality of democracy and diverts the substance of criticism from the people towards members of the DPR who do not represent the interests of the people.

Efriza added that the real goal of demomonstration is to encourage improvements to values that are considered wrong. Therefore, said Efriza, anarchic actions in voicing opinions are a form of setback for democracy.

The people demonstrated to improve their parliament, anarchic actions to looting were counterproductive behavior and even showed democratic setbacks, he concluded.